


Park Row Kids Stick Together

by BunnyJess



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angst, Birthdays, Boxing, Child Abuse, Chronic Pain, Domestic Violence, Drug Use, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Getting a Job, Happy Ending, MMA, Making a Life, Memories, Mentions of Prostitution, Mentions of Underage, Moving On, Physical Abuse, Street Kids, Surviving, happiness, it is in a diner, psychological abuse, underage work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-26 00:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15652242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/pseuds/BunnyJess
Summary: A trip through Jason's memories over a twenty year span. How he gets out of one hell, falls into another, meets his best friend, makes his own family, and eventually finds happiness.





	Park Row Kids Stick Together

At age four Jason didn’t think life could get any better. His Mamá loved him. His Dad got him a brand new colouring book. He even had a teddy bear to take to bed. The room may have been dirty, the mattress used, and the blanket threadbare but none of that mattered too little Jason. He didn’t notice any of that; all he noticed was how his Mamá would tuck him in at bedtime. She’d sing him to sleep while her fingers ran through his hair. Once she thought he was asleep he’d feel her lips press a kiss to his forehead and a whispered _te amo Jason_.

Aged five and life already felt a world away from how he’d felt at four. Jason would hide while his Mamá cried during his Dad’s shouting. He hid in the cupboard until they found a stray dog and then he’d hide under the table with Sparky. He heard the beatings getting worse and already knew to keep quiet around his Dad. More and more often he’d find his Mamá on the bathroom floor. Instead of falling asleep in his bed with her love surrounding him; he’d curl up with her and run his hands through her ginger hair. He would clean her wounds and mop up the vomit she’d bring up due to the pain his Dad caused her.

Jason doesn’t remember his sixth birthday. Willis beat him for costing them money, for being a drain. He shouted abuse at the small boy, reaffirming that he didn’t deserve gifts. The few he did get were from neighbours that Willis immediately stole and pawned. He never got the chance to play with them or wear them. His Mamá tried to protect him but Willis was too strong. Jason blamed himself for his Mamá’s busted lip, for the blood she coughed up, for the pair of them needing to spend the night under observation at Dr Leslie Thompkins’ clinic.

By age eight Willis was finally in prison and Jason had his Mamá back. They’d go on day trips and cook together. Life was starting to turn around and it was back to his Mamá putting him to bed instead of the other way round. Then Catherine started suffering from severe hip pain due to when Willis broke it the year before. The pain was unbearable; a constant reminder of how she’d failed to protect Jason from such a monster.

Catherine blamed herself, especially when she went to get pain medication and discovered how much it cost. Heroin was cheaper and dulled the pain as soon as she’d shot up. Jason helped her as much as he could, distracting her and trying to get her out of the house. At night his Mamá would leave to earn them money. Catherine would wait until she thought Jason was asleep but fear would grip his heart every night he heard the door shut. He knew the risk of her not coming home by morning was bigger than any kid should endure.

At nine it was Jason who came home too late. Catherine was hunched on the sofa, needle on the floor and a dead look in her eyes. Her bloated, blue body was too cold and Jason begged her to wake up. He begged her to stay with him, promising to be a better son. He called the police but hid a couple of floors up in their apartment complex when they arrived. His landlord said Jason could stay if he could afford the rent; money was money after all it didn’t matter where it came from. Collecting together a few sentimental pieces of Catherine’s, along with finding all the cash he’d hidden around the flat, Jason sold as much of the rest as he could. A week later he left, it just wasn’t the same without his Mamá.

Cassandra quietly slipped into Jason’s life at age twelve. He doesn’t remember how it happened but one week he was alone and the next Cassandra was with him. She was a tiny twelve year old, could fight better than any other street kid he’d met, and struggled with words. The hovels they found to live in felt safer as a pair than when Jason stayed in them alone. Jason taught her English while Cassandra taught him more ways to steal and pick pockets. The streets felt less lonely with his first real friend.

Normally kids kept to themselves on the streets under the illusion it was safer. Now he’d met Cassandra he realised how wrong the other kids were. They got more sleep as one could keep watch while the other slept. They weren’t as lonely and, even though there was two mouths to feed, with two pairs of hands it was easier to get money. In the three years since his Mamá’s death he’d grown to be almost unrecognisable when compared to the small boy Willis could scare. Now he was all limbs and growing muscle. Now he wasn’t at a disadvantage and could intimidate the John’s that’d try to get too rough with them.

By fourteen, Cassandra and Jason had been joined by two younger kids. At ten Timothy and Stephanie looked like twins and argued like them too. Tim was as small as Cassandra had been and so he was able to slip in and pick pockets while the others slowed people down or caused distractions. If there was one thing Stephanie was excellent at it was causing a distraction. Both were sharp as a tack and clever too boot.

With there now being four of them it was easier to pull off more elaborate cons and boost better quality tyres for more money. Even with more mouths to feed they hardly went hungry. Each excelled in their own ways when it came to finding food or money. For Jason it was stealing tyres and working street corner. For Cassandra it was picking pockets in busy parts of Gotham. For Timothy it was the ability to barter with the people they pawned stuff to, with him around they rarely got underpaid. For Stephanie her blonde hair and blue eyes were able to manipulate shop assistants into giving her items for free as she looked like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

The women who worked the corner with Jason would tip him when he chased away John’s who tried going too far or getting the goods for free. Holding different markets they accepted him into their group, knowing he was safer out with them than on his own. They also knew he was desperate to provide for his little family unit so they never had to do the things he’d had to.

At fifteen the foursome’s luck had turned. They were living rather than merely surviving. Jason and Cass found cash-in-hand jobs in diners while the younger two would protect their squat. The pay was shit but the tips were good. They still had to find money in their illegal ways but all together it was enough to find a permanent home, to find somewhere with hot water and minimal wind blowing through. Six years after his mothers’ death Jason found a flat in the very building he’d run away from. The landlord didn’t care that they were all legally children as they paid a month up front and even managed a deposit. It was a small studio flat on the seventh floor, but it was now home. They managed to scrape together odd pieces of furniture, some of the tenants even remembered Jason and helped them out, the place felt like theirs.

At sixteen and now legally able to be employed; Jason was moved from front of house to the kitchen after cooking for the manager one late night, Cassandra ended up leaving the diner to work in a boxing ring in a slightly better part of town. Her fighting skill made her an excellent trainer in spite of her age. Both finally felt happy. They’d managed to get Tim and Steph into school as a couple of the women Jason worked with at night acted as their parents.

They no longer looked like twins much to their disappointment. While Tim was still small but muscular, Stephanie had shot up to be taller than Cassandra. She made Jason walk her to and from school as she felt unsafe with the new attention puberty pulled towards her. Jason playfully teased Cassandra as she was still tiny in every way but she was super-fast, her manager going so far as to say her feet moved faster than Cassius Clay.

Jason was glad his Mamá couldn’t see him now, he too closely resembled Willis with his height, broard shoulders and built frame. His red-brown hair was now such a dark brown it looked black and a mess of curls. Sometimes he catches his reflection out the corner of his eye and a jolt of fear ran through him at the memories of Willis terrifying him. In the year they’d had a stable home all of them had a spark in their eyes that could only come from a loving family that backs you always.

Harper and Cullen stumbled into their lives when Jason was eighteen. The young girl and her kid brother kept loitering around the diner he worked at trying to get the leftovers as they were thrown away at night. He recognised the signs of two kids trying to survive on the street and his heart broke for them. He estimated the boy to be no more than four, the girl no older than ten, and knew he’d not survive the cold Gotham winter that would come in only a few months

After he spoke to his family about the two kids Tim and Steph made it their mission to convince them to move in with them. The thing that really sold the pair was when the duo opened up about being able to return to school. They loved that, unlike the other kids who had to follow whatever their parents wanted, they were able to choose their own paths and follow their own passions.

A fire was lit within Harper and their little family had suddenly become a unit of six. Harper had an amazing ability with electronics and was able to make broken items work again providing them with an extra income to cover the extra expenses. Their bills didn’t rise too much as, with six bodies now in the studio flat; they naturally kept the flat warmer.

Every night before bed Cass taught the younger ones how to defend themselves or slip away undetected, valuable skills to have when living in the Narrows. Despite having a steady income, Jason still went to the corner of a night. He rarely worked with the women; he was more there for protection and routine. They’d all fallen in love with the nine year old punk of a kid who took rubbish from no one. To the point that they were still ruffling his hair now, even though he was 5’ 10’’ and looked like a middle weight boxer.

Cass became a professional fighter not long after they’d both turned twenty. The boxing club she worked at had been wary of putting such a small woman into an MMA fight, until more and more of their patrons started asking when she’d be doing just that. They’d held a charity night, needing money for a few new pieces of equipment, and Cass had her first fight. She’d put on a fantastic show ensuring that the other woman lasted through a couple of rounds before being laid out on her arse. The crowd had loved it and she was soon entering more and more armature competitions. When she won her first title people outside of Gotham were surprised; once she held them all, people stopped doubting her ability.

With Cass’ fighting and Jason earning a promotion to sous chef, along with a new job in a nicer restaurant in Gotham, the family were able to move to a bigger place. It was still in the Narrows as they were all frugal with their money, refusing to rent a place bigger than a two bed made no sense to them. Tim shared Steph while Harper shared with Cullen. They’d argued with Cass and Jason about getting a three bed place but they were happy with their pull-out sofa.

It was a month after the move that Tim and Steph approached the other four about changing their last names. They hated that they were all different when they were all a close family. After many lengthy discussions it was decided that they’d change to match Harper and Cullen who had the surname Row. That night as they lay in bed, the oldest pair was talking the name change over. It was as they practised using their new last name that Jason realised how fitting it really was. They’d all come together because of shitty circumstances forcing them to the Narrows, to Crime Alley. A long time ago, before a billionaire and his wife were gunned down, Crime Alley was called Park Row; it was a name only those living used now. It felt much more fitting than any other choice could have done. Jason knew a man who could forge documents and hack government databases. He paid the man to change everything for the family, including making Cass and Jason the other four’s legal guardians. The paperwork and electronic manipulation cost a pretty penny but to see the schools accept that they were actually siblings made every cent worth it.

                Tim and Steph had graduated high school and moved on to Gotham U with Wayne Foundation Scholarships. Harper was top of her classes and moving on to high school herself, although they had had to find her one that focused more on electronics etc. than the one the elder two had been to. Cullen, at eight, was their bright light. The streets hadn’t had a chance to force him into growing up too quickly. This meant he was able to have a full childhood, something the others safeguarded for him with their lives. They’d never had the chance and were determined that the same couldn’t be said for Cullen.

On Jason’s twenty-fourth birthday Cass had a title fight. It was to be her last fight, as she was moving back into training after five years undefeated. It was as he was wrapping her hands that he realised he’d been so very wrong at four. Life hadn’t been perfect; his parents had shielded him from their unstable and abusive marriage. Sure life had gotten considerably worse for him for a few years but he’d fought. He was happy, had a loving family around him and had managed the impossible. Jason Row was nothing like Willis Todd. He’d never hit a woman out of anger; he’d never abused drink or drugs; he sure as hell didn’t desert his family. He worked hard to provide for them to ensure they never went hungry and have everything they needed. Best of all, everyone in his family was there by choice, no one felt an obligation. They were all a part of the Row family because they wanted to be.

As it was to be Cass’ last fight the whole family were gathered in the locker room. Seemingly from nowhere they managed to produce a cake with twenty-four candles for Jason. He was mid blowing them out when Cass’ primary sponsor, Gotham’s own Bruce Wayne, walked in with his two sons. They wanted to wish her luck in her retirement fight, and express sadness that such a talent was moving into training.

Without having been conditioned by the streets to be wary of all you meet, Cullen was the first of the rest of the family to speak up. He quickly introduced everyone and explained how it was the only one of his Mum’s fights he was allowed to watch. Bruce was surprised for just a moment as he took in the age of Cullen and the others when compared to Cass and Jason. Then his eldest Dick stepped in, guessing correctly, that their family was made up through adoption just like theirs was. Tim and Steph had just enough time to personally thank him for their scholarships before Cass’ trainer was kicking them all out.

That night Park Row was alive with joy. Music was blaring, food was being shared, violence had stopped, and people felt truly alive. Their local hero may have been retiring but it was no reason to be sad. She’d helped put the plight of the Narrows firmly in the national conscious meaning the people there were slowly beginning to have a better quality of life. They all got a shock at one point as Gotham’s other stars; Batman, Nightwing, and Robin; turned up to congratulate Cass on retiring with a clean sheet. She had been undefeated for five years running; something that hadn’t been expected from such a small woman when she’d entered the MMA ring initially.

The next morning once the family had all fallen into their beds, as the party had finally finished, Cass took up her usual position cuddled into Jason’s side. For too many years the pair had cuddled up to share warmth that by the time they had a place with heating it was too much of a habit to give up. They’d shared so much during their twelve years surviving and living together. The warmth, love, and company they’d shared was as natural as breathing. Cass handed over his last birthday card. The words inside were written her distinctive scrawl, writing being the one aspect of English Cass had struggled learning the most. That didn’t matter to Jason. All that mattered to him was how Cass had called him her soul mate, her partner, and how she knew they’d be beside each other for the rest of their lives. She had become his other half, and he knew no matter who came into their lives as lovers that they'd always have each other.

Yes, life to four year old Jason couldn’t have gotten any better. For twenty-four year old Jason, life had become so much more than he’d ever dreamed possible.


End file.
